Readers,
As you can tell, I’ve been a bit more active writing in the last few months. I wanted to do a quick roundup of my essays over the last year, in case you’ve missed any of them. I’ve published a number of guest essays and original writing on topics like growth metrics, consumer psych, the startup ecosystem in the Bay Area, push notifications, and much more.

For your convenience, I’ve written a couple blurbs underneath each essay so you can get a sense for each article.

Finally, I wanted to note – can you believe I’ve been writing for almost 11 years now? Who knew I’d be able to keep it up for so long?! Appreciate all the folks who’ve been with me for years. Thank you for reading!

Regards,
Andrew Chen
San Francisco, California

Original essays

10 years in the Bay Area – what I’ve learnedI’ve lived here for the last decade, and have learned a ton of about this region’s entrepreneurial drive, the unique culture, and wonderful folks. I wanted to share a couple lessons learned here.

What’s next in growth? (Presentation at Australia’s StartCon)Last year I presented this talk on how marketing has evolved over the last century, and how many of the ideas we think of as “growth” today are actually based on concepts from decades ago. I use this to talk about future platforms and where this might all go.

Uber’s virtuous cycle. Geographic density, hyperlocal marketplaces, and why drivers are keyIn my last two years at Uber, I’ve learned a ton about the flywheel that makes Uber’s core business hum and grow incredibly fast. In this essay I draw from Bill Gurley’s essays on network effects, the labor market for part-time workers (aka drivers, “the supply side”), and how surge works within the company. A lot has evolved/changed since I’ve written this, but it’s a good overview from my first year of learnings.

Guest essays

How To (Actually) Calculate CACBrian Balfour, ex-vp growth at Hubspot, talks about how to calculate cost of acquisition and all the practical difficulties involved.